Let’s Talk About: Moss Stitch

I’ve been using just plain ol’ triple crochet in a lot of the things I’ve made lately, and while there’s nothing wrong with that, I’ve been wanting to play around with more stitches again; have some variety in my designs. I’ve recently designed a couple hats using bulky weight yarn and I knew I wanted a dense, textured stitch for the first one. A while back I found this nifty little book of knit and crochet stitches in my mom’s collection of needlework books called a Dell Purse Book, “Pattern Stitches, 90 knitting and crochet patterns, with detailed directions and photos.” It was published in 1972 and contains short and to-the-point directions for basic knit and crochet stitches as well as a good bit of pattern stitches. In it I found a version of the moss stitch that uses single crochet and double crochet stitches as opposed to the more common chain and single crochet version. I really like the texture it creates, and though I originally looked it up for one hat, I got so inspired to make the second one, which is the one you see pictured above.

Now, if you are a crocheter, than you may be able to tell that this hat was worked from the top down, with increases throughout to aid in the shaping. This version of the moss stitch creates an uneven edged row, so when I knew I wanted to make a hat top down, I tried looking around online for how to increase in this stitch. Of course, I kept finding things for the chain 1, single crochet 1 version, and although I tried a few of those just to see, as well as some others idea I had, I finally decided to just increase the way I would a normal hat/stitch. As you can see, even though the row created by this stitch is uneven, increasing this way worked out just fine. So that was cool. :)

In the end, I really like how this hat, and the other one, turned out. This stitch is easy to make (the only part that’s a bit tricky is keeping up with your increase stitches while going sc, dc, sc, but once you get into the rhythm of it, it’s not so bad), and another thing I love is that even while using bulky yarn, with which you get less yardage in a skein than most worsted weights, these hats are made up using just under a skein, so that means no joining new yarn within the hat. I am all about things being crocheted as efficiently as possible, and less joins means a more durable item.

This stitch, especially with a nice, chunky yarn, has become a favorite for me right now. It seems just great and cozy for the upcoming fall and winter.